Michigan May Pass Nation's Toughest Lead Rules

By Sara Jerome,
@sarmje

Michigan is close to completing its work on what could be the nation’s strictest drinking water rules for lead.

The plan “would eventually result in the replacement of all 500,000 lead service pipes in Michigan despite opposition from municipalities and utilities,” the Associated Press reported.

“The proposed lead and copper rules, first announced in 2016 in the wake of the Flint water crisis and formally unveiled in 2017, will take effect unless a legislative committee objects by June. Lawmakers are unlikely to intervene after successfully nudging the state Department of Environmental Quality to scale back parts of the proposal that could still cost $2.5 billion over decades — money that is expected to largely come from water customers,” the report said.

Under the new rules, the action level for lead would lower from 15 parts per billion to 12 parts per billion in 2025. Underground lead service lines (those connecting water mains to houses) would have to be replaced by 2040.

“The rules also would prohibit the partial replacement of lead service pipes except for emergency repairs; require preliminary and final inventories of the lines and other components of a water supply by 2020 and 2025; and ensure samples are taken at the highest-risk sites and with methods designed to more accurately detect lead. Additional changes are designed to verify that corrosion control is working and better educate the public about lead in water,” the report stated.

Eric Oswald, director of the state's Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance Division, weighed in.

"We don't believe the current lead and copper rule is protective enough or as protective as we thought it was," he said, per the report.

Michigan officials have come under fire in recent years in what is widely acknowledged as their inadequate response to the Flint lead-contamination crisis. The crisis resulted in criminal prosecution of state officials. Flint’s lead crisis left hundreds of children with high blood lead levels.

The federal government is considering moves to update its lead rules, as well. Calling for a war on lead as a new feature of federal policy, U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is working with Cabinet officials on reforms aimed at keeping children safe from lead contamination, The Washington Examiner reported.

Image credit: "20161004-FNS-LSC-0039," U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2016. Public Domain: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/